Every human is unique and so is their growth pattern and pace…. Not every human is an athlete or a mathematics genius or a pageant winner or artist…. Your baby’s behaviour and early development pattern reveals a lot about their characteristic strengths and weaknesses as an adult… Thus, we should never ignore the Early Childhood Care and Developmental Stage.
Through all the growth milestones that your child has to achieve, walking independently is one of the most important. Why? Because it is dependent on many such equally important growth events such as rolling, pushing arms outwards on their own, lifting head and shoulders, sitting independently, ability to use both sides of their body and moving fingers. Even though ability to use both sides of their body and moving fingers signifies pscho-motor development in them, it is interlinked with their over all psychological and physiological development parallely. However in order to ensure that your weaner wins all the mileposts on time, it is important to ensure their muscular fitness. Poor muscular health means your baby might not be as physically active as they want to be which can cause distress in them.. Yes it does! Children as young as they may be, view life through their wants only… and not able to do what they want pains them as much as not getting their favourite toy. However, being a doting parent ain’t no easy job and one has to remain guarded and vigilant regarding their child’s growth, needs and wants.
Do you know? It is normal for babies to start standing on their two feet independently at 12th month….. or even maximum by 13th month… but what to do if they still not do so….?
Any parents’ first reaction would be worry and it’s never wrong to be concerned for your child’s timely growth… However, you must remain strong and find ways to tackle the roadblock calmly as difficult it might be.
- Consulting your trusted pediatrician is always the best advice you’ll get and forsure it will relieve you from a lot of stress and worry.
- Note their previous growth patterns: like what are the stimuli that they respond to in the desired manner, their own unique manner of growth response such as it might be possible that your child shows signs of early speech development but later physical and psycho-motor development.. They might also show more strength in the arms region than the other growth zones.
- Massaging: Massaging plays a vital role in their growth and development, thus, parents must follow up this routine everyday without fail. If you feel that they’re physical growth accomplishments dawn later on them, you must start massaging their bodies twice. While massaging make sure you focus on their spine, hips and core muscles region because that’s where your babies gather strength to push their bodies forward. Also do not forget to massage well their feet and limbs. However, do not be harsh with them in order to get quick results as excess friction could cause more damage and no good to their soft limbs. You must also opt for the oil that best suits them. Warm Mustard oil with the goodness of garlic extract has been an age old common household hack, you can also try sesame oil, tea tree massaging oil, herbal oils made from the extracts of natural shatavari and extracts of other herbal roots.
- Peer help: If your 6months+ baby has seen only adults walking around pampering them, they might feel small and that delays their intellect to accept and accommodate their body’s physical growth. They need their own tribe where they can thrive. It’s right time to participate in those baby-products campaign seeking to engage your child to play along with children of their age group so that they observe and assimilate those growth pattern and trends.
- Crawling exercises: We often repeat what we already know before we learn new things. So is for your child. Make them practice crawling as much as possible, so that their muscles are strong enough to push them to stand up.
- Using psychological methods to encourage them to walk
- Avoid push walkers as much as possible because they never help your child to stand independently and balance their body weight.
- Provide them with superfoods for their overall development. Make sure their tummy is a storage of all the healthy Nutrients, Vitamins and Protiens for building a strong (Try Burpease’s Pratham Aahaar for providing your child with power-packed preservatives free nutrition that quickens their growth.
Lastly, they’re your child and your decisions and every response to the challenges faced counts on their later childhood development and growth. Thus, be patient but proactive while dealing with the delays in growth.